MORE SUNDAY WORLD, 3-15 (SUN & WIND CAN POWER THE WORLD; GREEK SUN GETS BRIGHTER; CANADIANS MAKE WAVES; OPEC PRICES OIL FOR ‘GREAT RECESSION’)

SUN & WIND CAN POWER THE WORLD
Aid needed to boost world's "green" energy
Gelu Suluguic (w/Katie Nguyen), March 11, 2009 (Reuters UK)

"Wind and solar power could produce 40 percent of the world's electricity by 2050, but only if government subsidies are secured for the next two decades, scientists said…

"The technologies will each need global support totaling 10 billion to 20 billion euros ($12.76 billion to $25.51 billion) per year, said Peter Lund, professor in advanced energy systems at Helsinki University of Technology."

Greenpeace also sees a New Energy future. (click to enlarge)

"Without financial and political support, he said wind and solar power would only account for less than 15 percent of the world's energy output…[Lund] said with a strong deployment programme and supportive policies, wind power could break even between 2020 and 2025, while solar power could break even closer to 2030."

"In November, the International Energy Agency said if the world managed to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by 2030 -- a scenario many scientists already see as hopeless -- renewable sources of energy would account for 40 percent of global electricity generation…To limit warming to 3 degrees, renewables would make up 23 percent of global power generation."

Even the EIA sees a New Energy future. (click to enlarge)

"Scientists said intermittent electricity such as that from wind is now still 50 percent more expensive compared to baseload electricity from coal or nuclear…To fully exploit the potential of wind and solar power, electricity grids will have to be modernized and national electricity markets will have to be integrated, scientists said…

"Eventually, the subsidies will lead to cheaper electricity when wind and solar power become commercially viable, Lund said…"


GREEK SUN GETS BRIGHTER
SolFocus and Samaras Expand Solar Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) Project in Greece from 1.6MW to 10MW; First Planned Commercial Deployment of CPV Technology in Greece Grows Six-fold in Four Months
March 9, 2009 (Business Wire)

"SolFocus… announced an agreement which dramatically expands its installation of solar Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) technology in the country of Greece. Originally announced in November 2008 as a 1.6MWp1 deployment between SolFocus and Samaras Group, this new agreement increases the size of the project to 10MWp in recognition of the distinct financial and energy generation advantages for CPV in the geographic region. This expanded agreement involves a joint effort between SolFocus, Samaras Group, and its engineering company Concept. Over the past four months, the partners have investigated several sites and begun engineering plans for the installation…

"Spanning multiple sites in Greece, the deployment will have the capacity to produce 10MWp of power using the SolFocus 1100S system. The SF-1100S, launched in November 2008, offers high conversion efficiencies that are typically 30-50 percent greater than traditional photovoltaic (PV) panels and provides the highest energy generation potential per area of land…"

click for the 2008 Global Green Solar Report Card evaluation of Greece

"Deploying solar solutions such as the SolFocus systems is important to the environment. The first year of production alone will prevent the release of 17,500 tons of CO2 emissions into the environment. The installation will begin in the summer of 2009 with the first delivery of power expected in the fall.

"The SolFocus CPV design employs a system of reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. The SolFocus 1100S uses approximately 1/1,000th of the active, expensive solar cell material used by traditional PV panels. In addition, the cells used in SolFocus CPV systems have over twice the efficiency of traditional silicon cells. In a solar-rich country like Greece, such efficiency can accelerate the trajectory for solar energy to reach cost parity with fossil fuels…"


CANADIANS MAKE WAVES
SyncWave Systems gets $2.7 million; Pemberton-based company developing wave technology
Jesse Ferreras, 11 March 2009 (Pique Magazine)

"…SyncWave Systems Inc. [has received $2.7 million from the Canadian government] through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a non-profit foundation created by the federal government that finances the development of clean technologies.

"The money will go towards development and demonstration [later this year in the waters of Hesquiaht Sound off the west coast of Vancouver Island] of the SyncWave Power Resonator (SPR), a device that can produce electricity by harnessing energy from ocean waves…

"The device floats on the ocean surface and captures a motion differential between two float structures: a wave follower float that helps the device float on the surface and an oscillator float that bobs up and down as the ocean waves hit it. The two structures then drive a generator to produce electricity between them…The whole thing is 30 metres in height and pops up just above the water's surface, but most of it is undersea."

click to enlarge

"The demonstration device…will produce annual mean power of 25 kW with a 100 kW capacity and is appropriate for serving remote communities and those that aren't connected to power grids…[Energy consultant Nigel] Protter has been developing the device along with engineers at the University of Victoria and said the entire project could cost $10.5 million to develop.

"Once completed, the device will be outfitted for 100-year storm conditions, meaning it could survive a storm that comes only once in 100 years. To get power to land, the device will connect with a sub-sea interconnect hub that SyncWave is developing in conjunction with OceanWorks Technology, a company that develops underwater work systems.

"The SyncWave website calls the SPR a 'next-generation advance in the global race to commercialize wave energy.'"


OPEC PRICES OIL FOR ‘GREAT RECESSION’
Yergin: Oil users will have more impact on price
March 12, 2009 (Bloomberg News via Houston Chronicle)

"The direction oil prices take will depend more on a meeting of world leaders in London next month than on what the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decides this weekend, said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Efforts to boost global growth will be more meaningful to oil markets than whether OPEC decides to cut oil output because prices reflect the economic slowdown, Yergin said in an interview…

"'GDP is going to determine the price,' said Yergin, author of a Pulitzer-Prize winning history of oil. 'We're now in the Great Recession, and that's what the price reflects.'"

click to enlarge

"Oil has fallen…from a high of $147.27 a barrel on July 11…to $42.33 [on March 11]… OPEC has reduced daily production targets by 4.2 million barrels since September…[OPEC] is likely to reduce output again…More important to understanding where prices will go from here is what world leaders do when the Group of 20 nations meet April 2 in London to try to boost the world economy, Yergin said.

"The U.S. and other Group of 20 nations must seek agreement on a coordinated response to the global economic crisis, U.S. President Barack Obama said…European Union governments have rebuffed U.S. calls to take more fiscal stimulus measures."

"Global leaders will decide "the balance between more regulation and more stimulus" at the April meeting, Yergin said. "We'll get both, but the drive will be for a coordinated global stimulus" where, for example, the U.S. and China agree to work together, he said. 'Oil is not only the world's most important commodity, it's a barometer of the global economy,' Yergin said. 'It's telling us the global economy is sick.'"

click to enlarge

"There is now between 6 million and 7 million barrels of spare production capacity for oil worldwide, Yergin said. OPEC, 'like everyone else, is trying to understand the depths of the recession,' he said. Demand for crude has fallen by 1.8 million barrels a day so far in 2009, on top of a 550,000 barrel-a-day drop last year, he said…'It really reflects the fact that the recession has gone global.'

"He said OPEC members will not be able to boost prices enough to further weaken the world economy. Yergin expects prices to average $45 a barrel this year, based on the drop in demand, and said a floor had been established in the upper $30 range."